Ants are taking over!

Needing suggestions on how to get rid of these ants. I've got my plants in smart pots, and noticed the same thing last year when I used them. I'm trying to avoid spraying anything on them, because they're about half way into flowering. I think they're building little black cocoon looking things all along the stalks and bigger branches. Posted some pics of what they look like. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Scale insects..the ants can feed off em. Boric acid traps for ants and google scale insects and see pics.

awesome... thanks!

Danger Will Robinson Danger!!

Root aphids hitch a ride on ants. They have a symbiotic relationship with them and produce a honey dew that the ants feed off of.

I could be wrong, I sure hope I am, but this would strike fear in my heart. Remember these root aphids are small enough to ride on an ants leg.

Yep. My root aphid problems came along with an ant problem.

If you can, keep your plants elevated off the floor on a table... Keep a layer of tanglefoot all the way around the base of the table legs. No insects will be able to crawl up the table.

Also, cinnamon in the ants path helps. It is no cure... but it really pisses them off. If you spread the cinnamon thick enough they will not cross the area...

So basically, you have to find the path of the ants from outside to your pots... then put an end to it. You could make a fucking moat around your garden if you wanted. Just stop the path.

After you stop the path, then you can kill the ants in your pots. If you want to put a serious end to the problem... drench with evergreen 6-60. It is a strong pyrethrin mix. It is totally safe all the way through flowering.

I would do a thorough cleaning and pesticide treatment of your grow after you finish. Root Aphids will have you pulling your hair out.

Once you have them, you never really get rid of them. They can pop back up two years later. Seemingly out of nowhere.

tenthirty said:

Danger Will Robinson Danger!!

Root aphids hitch a ride on ants. They have a symbiotic relationship with them and produce a honey dew that the ants feed off of.

I could be wrong, I sure hope I am, but this would strike fear in my heart. Remember these root aphids are small enough to ride on an ants leg.

Click to expand...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120702134037.htm

Right you are. More should know. Mix sugar with Borax to rid yourself of ants. Leave it for them to feed on.

If I could only go back to that day that I found an ant mound in two little seedling pots... all i would have needed to do was just throw them out, stop the path, and carry on. It would have saved me so much time and money. Some great genetics were lost too.